Abbey House Hotel, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria- Watching Brief Report

During June and September 2000 and April 2001, Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) in its former guise as the Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (LUAU) undertook a watching brief at the Abbey House Hotel, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria (SD 2172 7214). The work was carried out on behalf of Northwest Projects (2000) Ltd. The aim of the watching brief was to record any significant deposits uncovered during minor excavations associated with the construction of an extension to the hotel, which lies c 375m north-north-west of Furness Abbey.
The site of the works was located to the north and east of the main hotel building. The works consisted of a small area adjacent to the north wall of the hotel (Area 1); a trench running west-north-west/east-south-east from Area 1 across the gardens to the east of the hotel, before turning south-south-west (Area 2); and finally, a trench excavated to the north-east of the hotel, between the proposed extension and the boundary wall to the east (Area 3).
The deposits uncovered demonstrated the presence of only post-medieval features in the first two areas but in the third area, north of the North Lodge, a sandstone wall was discovered. Although no certain date was obtained for the wall it probably represents an earlier continuation of the course of the stone wall. There is a drastic turn in the existing one and the section of wall revealed is on an identical alignment, which therefore suggests that the wall is post-medieval in date but may indicate an earlier boundary which may have coincided with the alignment of the precinct wall surrounding Furness Abbey.